Azerbaijan GP chaos as Hamilton’s brakes fail and Alpine car on fire

F1 preview: A lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton suffered a brake failure as Pieere Gasly’s car caught fire in a chaotic opening to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Race stewards were forced to red flag the only practice session after just 15 minutes due to the chaos. 

Moments into the session, Hamilton was the first to complain of problems as he sent a worrying message to Mercedes engineers. He moaned: “I have no brakes at the moment.

A couple moments later, team-mate George Russell had a similar complaint. He added: “Brakes feel pretty poor, not much deceleration.”

However, the session was stopped soon after as Piere Gasly’s Alpine burst into flames. Thick black smoke was seen billowing out of the Alpine as marshals frantically tried to extinguish the fire.

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Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz revealed the problem was likely a hydraulics failure  after speaking to Alpine engineers. He said: “The original problem, which is why they told Pierre Gasly not to change gear, was  a loss of hydraulic pressure. 

“If you lose hydraulic pressure then by extension that might mean a hydraulic leak. And if there’s a hydraulic leak that may lead to it catching fire. I don’t know how flammable hydraulic fluid is but I think that led to some other things going wrong.

“It’s a suspected hydraulic leak on the Alpine. Yuki Tsunonda was also in the wars with the AlphaTauri star damaging his car just ten minutes into practice. 

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The Japanese star knocked the barrier which punctured his rear right tyre. However, Kravitz suggested he had done more damage to the suspension when returning to the pots which could cost him downforce. 

Kevin Magnussen was also pulled off the track as the session was suspended with the Dane unable to return to the pits.

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